CONFUSED

twokatlover

I just started again and when I put my information in it came up 1520 for calories. Well I haven't put anything in and it now says 1446 and has 74 exercise. If I have 74 for exercise why did it subtract it instead of add it?

janejellyroll

That looks like a negative adjustment. Do you have an activity tracker synced to your account?

With negative adjustments, your calorie goal will be adjusted downward when you move less than your activity level (set on MFP) would have predicted.

You have -74 for exercise, not 74.

twokatlover

So that means I can't eat my normal amount of calories? Yes I have a Fitbit Charge 2.

janejellyroll

twokatlover wrote: »

So that means I can't eat my normal amount of calories? Yes I have a Fitbit Charge 2.

If you ate your normal amount of calories (and you didn't do any additional activity today), you would be over your goal (your new goal, based on your activity synching) by 74 calories.

I have negative adjustments turned on and I typically find that I am negative when I wake up in the morning (because I've been lying in bed sleeping), but by the time I walk the dog, get my workout, and get to work, I'm in the green again. This is going to be highly individual, of course. Your routine may be very different from mine.

3bambi3

You can, you just won't have as large of a deficit. Also, as you move throughout the day or workout (if you do) then when your fitbit syncs with MFP you will see that number get smaller and you may earn extra calories by the end of the day.

WinoGelato

janejellyroll wrote: »

twokatlover wrote: »

So that means I can't eat my normal amount of calories? Yes I have a Fitbit Charge 2.

If you ate your normal amount of calories (and you didn't do any additional activity today), you would be over your goal (your new goal, based on your activity synching) by 74 calories.

I have negative adjustments turned on and I typically find that I am negative when I wake up in the morning (because I've been lying in bed sleeping), but by the time I walk the dog, get my workout, and get to work, I'm in the green again. This is going to be highly individual, of course. Your routine may be very different from mine.

Pretty much this. I'm always in the hole when I wake up, but I work out in the morning so that by the time I get into the office I'm back in the positive. Then after sitting at a desk all day, the amount of positive adjustment may shrink again.

FitBit and MFP sync all day long so the number is rarely going to be fixed for the entire day. Over time you will start to understand the patterns, the constant adjustment is what gives me confidence in the accuracy...

janejellyroll

WinoGelato wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

twokatlover wrote: »

So that means I can't eat my normal amount of calories? Yes I have a Fitbit Charge 2.

If you ate your normal amount of calories (and you didn't do any additional activity today), you would be over your goal (your new goal, based on your activity synching) by 74 calories.

I have negative adjustments turned on and I typically find that I am negative when I wake up in the morning (because I've been lying in bed sleeping), but by the time I walk the dog, get my workout, and get to work, I'm in the green again. This is going to be highly individual, of course. Your routine may be very different from mine.

Pretty much this. I'm always in the hole when I wake up, but I work out in the morning so that by the time I get into the office I'm back in the positive. Then after sitting at a desk all day, the amount of positive adjustment may shrink again.

FitBit and MFP sync all day long so the number is rarely going to be fixed for the entire day. Over time you will start to understand the patterns, the constant adjustment is what gives me confidence in the accuracy...

This, OP.

As you monitor it over time, you'll get a really good idea of what your adjustments will be and what your "normal" looks like.

ritzvin

This can happen if [1] you set your activity level > sedentary and haven't moved much; [2] have activity level set to sedentary and haven't moved pretty much at all yet; [3] you logged exercise separately (whether in MFP alone or on Fitbit's server) that puts you over what Fitbit thinks you've used total (with Garmin, this almost always happens if logging something not quantifiable by wrist-measured steps like cycling, partner dancing, etc).

kimny72

Yep, what @janejellyroll and @WinoGelato said. Fitbit basically averages out the amount of activity you need to do over the whole day, including when you are asleep. So if you get up at 6AM, you are 6 hours in the hole. But over the course of the day you catch up.

Also, if you just started using it, I found it took a couple of weeks for my Fitbit to get to know me, LOL. It might just be my perception, but it seemed like it got more and more accurate over time.

WinoGelato

kimny72 wrote: »

Yep, what @janejellyroll and @WinoGelato said. Fitbit basically averages out the amount of activity you need to do over the whole day, including when you are asleep. So if you get up at 6AM, you are 6 hours in the hole. But over the course of the day you catch up.

Also, if you just started using it, I found it took a couple of weeks for my Fitbit to get to know me, LOL. It might just be my perception, but it seemed like it got more and more accurate over time.

I agree, and I often recommend giving it a couple weeks for the two systems to work out their differences...

JeromeBarry1

@janejellyroll Thank you. I think I finally understand what "negative adjustment" means. I'll restate it as I presently understand it, and if you'd be so kind please let me know if I got it right or if I'm still confused.

A person joins myfitnesspal and declares her activity level as "lightly active". The person then buys an activity tracker, links it to myfitnesspal, and enables "Negative Calorie Adjustment". The person then sits on a couch and binge-watches television for four hours. The machine recognizes this as "sedentary" and adjusts her myfitnesspal calorie budget downward to account for the portion of the day she spent being sedentary.

Is that how it works?

WinoGelato

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

@janejellyroll Thank you. I think I finally understand what "negative adjustment" means. I'll restate it as I presently understand it, and if you'd be so kind please let me know if I got it right or if I'm still confused.

A person joins myfitnesspal and declares her activity level as "lightly active". The person then buys an activity tracker, links it to myfitnesspal, and enables "Negative Calorie Adjustment". The person then sits on a couch and binge-watches television for four hours. The machine recognizes this as "sedentary" and adjusts her myfitnesspal calorie budget downward to account for the portion of the day she spent being sedentary.

Is that how it works?

Not @janejellyroll but I can confirm that your understanding is correct.

I find it to be a nifty way to accommodate those days when I truly am less active than both MFP and FitBit think I should be. Whether it be a day I'm stuck in meetings, or on a long road trip, or ill and don't get up off the couch... knowing that there is a way to make sure I don't accidentally over eat those days, since I'm not burning as much as usual, is quite reassuring.

Not everyone likes them, they can't stand that feeling of seeing "red" even for any period of time, but again, I think knowledge is power and I prefer to have that information so that my habits can accommodate the new data point.

ritzvin

Fair warning though - negative adjustments don't work so well if you also do non-stepping types of exercise..